"If you believe Profootballtalk. com seven is the magic number for Lions President Matt Millen to keep his job. According to the web site that is the number of wins the Lions must get in 2007 for Millen to keep his job. Anything less and supposedly owner Bill Ford Sr will pull the plug on Millen. There is something to the number seven. There are others close to the Lions who believe the same thing."

First off, Profootballtalk.com is the Weekly World News of NFL rumor web sites. There's more BS and half truths floating around that site than you heard in San Diego Chargers Norv Turner presser. They occasionally do stumble into a scoop, but their track record is about as checkered as Millen's.

Considering that the Lions haven't shitcanned Millen after 6 losing seasons, are we really supposed to take that rumor seriously? If the Lions only win 6 games, Millen is gone? But get 7 wins, and everything is Peaches and Herb? Please, I didn't fall off the turnip truck yesterday. If Millen can't get his ass fired after a 2006 fiasco of a season that ended 3-13, it's obvious the incompetent boob has more job security than the damn Queen of England, 6 wins, 7 wins, or no wins. We're stuck with that clown for the long term. Very long term...

" Gone are cornerback Dre Bly, defensive linemen Marcus Bell and James Hall and guard Ross Verba. They've been told they can arrange trades to other teams."

OK, that's all well and good, the Lions are finally cleaning house. But who on God's green earth is going to play defense?! And why were we first told that Bly demanded a trade? It now sounds more like Bly was encouraged to seek employment elsewhere. Much like Tony Soprano "Encouraged" Big Pussy to confess he was a snitch. Encouraged? More like shown the door...

It also goes to show how incompetent Millen really has been in player procurement. Bly, Verba, and Bell were all Millen free agent pick ups, and Hall was an unsigned free agent signed in 2000, who became a starter in Millen's first season in 2001. Out of those 4 players, you could safely say that the Lions got a total of 3 good years total out of them. 2 Pro Bowl seasons from Bly, 1 11.5 sack year from from Hall, Bell was a solid depth guy, but nothing special, and Verba was a total bust.

"Poor attitude is part of the reason the Lions are allowing Dre Bly, James Hall and Marcus Bell to seek a trade."

"It would be folly to believe that Marinelli is willing to jettison starters like Bly and Hall and is just fine with the antics of Damien Woody and Mike Williams. There are two issues here -- both players will be given the opportunity to lose weight, get in line and get their heads straight."

"These potential roster moves tell me one very important thing -- Marinelli is trying to build this team the right way, even if it's going to take some time. People who believe that Marinelli -- and, by association, Matt Millen -- must win this season to keep their jobs are kidding themselves."

Build the Lions the right way? What? It took them 7 DAMN SEASONS to realize this? At that rate, when Killer says "It's going to take some time," he might as well say that the Lions are in worse shape than an expansion franchise. The Lions are going to be literally building over from scratch, led by a GM with worst the worst track record in the history of sports, and a head coach who is more likely to be collecting Social Security before the Lions even sniff .500.

As for Mike Williams and Damien Woody, I'm guessing that they are gone too. Woody has never come close to living up to his sizable contract, and do I even need to go on about the heaviest wide receiver on the planet? If you are going to blow up the roster, you might as well, as Big Jim McBob and Billy Sol Hurok of Farm Film Report would say, "Blow it up good! Blowed up real good!"

They also used to say, "May the Good Lord take a likin' to ya' and blow ya' up real soon!" Unfortunately, the Good Lord hasn't taken a likin' to we long suffering fans of the Detroit Lions.

3 comments:

"Poor attitude"? "Poor ATTITUDE"? Hell, if I was a football player of any quality, you bet I'd develop a poor attitude after risking my body day after day for this sinking ship of a franchise. The only players I would expect to have a positive attitude are the Mike Furreys of the world -- fringe players who scratch and claw their way onto an NFL roster.

As for "taking years" to rebuild, I submit for your consideration the New Orleans Saints. In the modern-day NFL, it does not take several years to build a quality team -- it takes a year or two of intelligent decision-making. This isn't the 1960s anymore, when you'd slowly put a team together and keep it together. Widespread free agency and the salary cap have dramatically speeded up the whole process. Kowalski should know better.

I'd love to think the Lions could turn things around in 1 off season. It's been done, such as your example, the Saints. Unfortunately, the previous 50 years of Lions ineptitude, let alone past 6 seasons Millen's regime, give me little hope that Millen and Marinelli could do the same thing.

Big Al: I didn't mean to imply that the M&M Boys (2006-07 edition) could pull it off. They don't stand a snowball's chance of pulling it off. What I meant was, they can't use rebuilding as an excuse for several more bad years. And Kowalski shouldn't act as their enabler -- he's seen this act too many times before.

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I'm Al Beaton, aka Big Al, a life-long Detroit sports fan. Being fed up with the lack of quality sports coverage by the MSM, I started "The Wayne Fontes Experience.". 1100+ posts later, it remains to be seen if that was a good idea... (And no, I'm not Eddie Munster, despite what my widow's peak may have you thinking)